Calling all Middle-earth fans. Tomorrow marks a special anniversary. That’s right, the dual birthday of the renowned hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

What this means: Tuesday, September 22 is national Hobbit Day, a day dedicated to celebrating all things Middle-earth. A day for parties, for fireworks, for friends and food—maybe even seven full meals, hobbit-style.

To that end, the goal of this post is to “Ce-le-brate good times, C’MON!” Good middle-earth times, that is.

Middle-earth News

This isn’t going to happen, but it’s an awesome idea: Build Minas Tirith.

According to a fan theory I just found out about, when Gandalf said, “Fly, you fools!” he wasn’t telling them to run away. Instead, he wanted them to do this. (Thanks to Adam Collings for making me aware of this.)

Apparently, a new threat has descended on middle-earth. Forget about Sauron, orcs, and wraiths. Now Frodo, Gandalf, and the company have bigger problems on their hands. What is this new threat? Watch his video to find out.

To you geeks who died of happiness watching that video, you’re welcome.

Ways to Celebrate

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be partying tomorrow, figuratively and literally—more on that in a minute. If you’re any level of middle-earth fan, you should celebrate. Here are some ideas to start your creative wheels turning.

• Eat the seven daily hobbit meals.
• Have a party with your middle-earth friends, or, if that doesn’t work out, have a virtual party on social media.
• Walk around barefoot all day.
• Listen to the soundtracks or watch one of the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings movies
• Set aside some time for reading your favorite book passages.
• Venture forth into the world wearing your favorite middle-earth shirt or character cosplay.
• Splurge and buy that piece of merchandise you’ve been wanting.
• Play Middle-earth trivia with some friends (for a bunch of quizzes, check out funtrivia.com).

10 Fun Facts

1. In early drafts of Lord of the Rings, Aragorn was a hobbit named Trotter.
2. Legolas and Gimli weren’t originally part of the Fellowship. Tolkien reached Moria before realizing something felt wrong, so he backtracked and added them.
3. Arwen is Aragorn’s cousin, sixty-three times removed.
4. In Tolkien’s early work, Morgoth’s servant (who became Sauron) was a cat.
5. The named population of Middle-earth rings in at 923 people.
6. Gandalf’s name is from a Norse poem.
7. Sam and Rosie Cotton had the most children of any hobbit family—a total of 13.
8. The mountains of Saturn’s moon Triton are named after locations in Middle-earth.
9. For the Lord of the Rings movies, Weta workshops made 48,000 pieces of armor.
10. Christopher Lee, who played Saruman, unintentionally met Tolkien at a bar in Oxford.

A Book to Read

If you’re like me, you have a to-read list as intimidating as Mount Doom. However, if you’re like me, you also can’t get enough of middle-earth. I’d like to direct you to a book you might not have read, but which is totally worth delving into.

The Children of Hurin.

I’ve read four middle-earth books, and this one comes in as my second favorite behind Lord of the Rings.

One Last Thing

Echoing Bilbo:

I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT.

If you guessed that I’m off on an adventure, you’d be right, though I didn’t use my magical ring to slip away. No, it’s not a journey to Mordor, even if I am heading south to a land of desolation and sweltering heat.

On this adventure, I’ll be too busy slaying orcs and fending off wraiths—er, making friends and having fun—to give my blog the attention it deserves. Anyway, since when did a quest include Wi-Fi as part of the contract agreement?

All that’s to say, I’m not going to post anything the rest of the week. I’ll be back to the regular schedule next Monday with a post I’m excited to share with you.

In the meantime, may your pipes ever be full of Old Toby, and may the good wishes of elves, men, and dwarves guide your way until we meet again.

How are you going to celebrate Hobbit Day? I would love to hear your thoughts.